Anderson .Paak & Kaytranada on New Years

Pomo will be playing with Kaytranada, Anderson .Paak + The Free Nationals on New Years in San Francisco. We’ve featured the last two artists, but only dipped into Pomo a few times – did not realize whom he’s produced.

People were telling me he did an Anderson .Paak track, but I didn’t realize which one. Then come to find he produced the only Mac Miller song I’ll ever like, which of course has Anderson .Paak featured on it.

He’s also got plenty of good remixes to bring in the New Year. Hope to see you there.

The one thing to bring to a festival

With camping equipment, the right clothing and food. All the things you should prepare for when your off the grid for a few days. But one thing makes those problems a lot easier to deal with, friends. It’s easy to survive in the city alone, but not out there.

There’s no better place for short bursts of conversation with people than places like Symbiosis. Even the occasional longer, deeper ones and more rare one’s that last past the moment. But there’s one thing that can make finding these connections easier than ever, friends. The more friends you have in your own camp, the more connections you have going around Symbiosis.

It’s hard to get friends there, but it’s much harder to survive & prosper without them.

Groovy dance remixes

The first playlists on Silence for the first few years were all best of year. In 2014, it turned into focusing on best of genres. Over the past year, I’ve tried to be more creative about it.

This list is really just remixes of famous songs in a groovy house kind of way. But not titling it so specifically allowed me to broaden the song selection, which made room for more fun things to dance to.

How do you define G house

My obsession with EnormousTunes has been growing over the year, but another music fanatic friend first told me about them before that. She made a list about this time last year and I can see now what she saw back then, especially with artists like Calippo, Sons of Maria, Nora En Pura and Me & My Toothbrush on both of our lists. Frey & Croatia Squad are my top two though.

EnormousTunes reminds me of Ghetto Funk in that the label defines a genre, but where as Ghetto Funk is also the name of the genre, EnormousTunes is what I think of when I think of G house. If I had to describe G house: a kick that comes from the gullet or gutter (gully?), something like that, falling on the tech/no house sound. A lot of them are remixing classic rap songs, also like Ghetto funk. But going through Enormous’ SoundCloud page, I realized that’s not all they do.

I found a lot more styles of house in there. This list starts with the best, gets into old disco & rap turned house and ends on the deep side.

Do you start with the hit or the favorite first

The first track on a playlist is an important one. The majority of people probably don’t get passed it, so you got to set the tone right away. I usually do my personal favorite song, but I always have reservations with that. Autograf is a good example.

Metaphysical is a perfect start to Autograf’s music. It’s not a remix of a popular artist and has a beautiful singer that doesn’t get old & irritating after a while. The Autograf trio has about nine other songs worth featuring, but only one hits heavier far above the others. Their Temptation remix.

I like their remix of ‘Ain’t too Proud to Beg’ so much it’s sparked another playlist I’ve been compiling: think the best of Motown with some heavy house. This list, however, is based off of all Autograf music.

House that hits the depths of our nature

Odesza’s Above the Middle was my first love of theirs and even though it starts off rocky, as I originally pointed out, once the vocals kick in it’s the sound that inspired this list. Especially hearing it live at Outside Lands in 2015. Ever since hearing it first back in 2013, I’ve found a set of songs just as inspiring.

The whole thing reminds me of a dream I had at least 10 years ago. It’s probably the most vivid dream I’ve ever had. I a woke (in the dream) falling from the sky, but I wasn’t frightened of falling. More fascinated by how enormous the sky and ocean were around me. I remember there was a castle in the distance (yes, like the Disney one). It was like I was falling to get there. It’s also the most beautiful dream I can remember.

How bad music got me a good woman

First off, these festivals with acronyms for names leave little to the imagination, which doesn’t make it easy to remember. I got BFD mixed up with TBD with the promoter and I feel like a dipshit. As I should. Always good to start off with a little humility.

BFD, or as I recently found out its full name, Big Fucking Day, leaves a lot more to the imagination and is Live 105’s annual summer festival at the Shoreline in Mountain View. The show had three stages this year: the main stage, one for local bands and a tent for the electronic acts. Of course I was there for The Offspring, not really, I was there to see TOKi. And Joywave.

If you can't listen to him live, hear him here

Up until a few days ago, I knew starRo for his relaxing tunes, California & Seduction. I did like House Party when it came out, but the SoundCloud ad in front ruined it for me – and I annoyed the shit out of starRo about it.

Going through his entire SoundCloud catalogue and explore.fm, I see where he’s taking his sound and I love it, every which way. I don’t see many (hardly any) producers do as well with one sound as starRo has done with a few of his […]

The soul side of house music

Finding a name and cover art is the biggest pain in the ass putting these playlists together.

Our “Next to You” playlist is all sexy house beats, but naming it with some variation of Sex & House (ex: House Be Sexy) gets old fast. You do want those keywords for discoverability, but the name of a playlist is its second introduction, the artwork is its first. Both are important to catch the listeners eye initially.

I just fell in love with the Flamingosis track, Next to You. It may not have the same vibe as the rest of the list, but the name couldn’t match it more.